One of My Inspirations

Those of you who know me and my writing and topics through the platform of Squidoo probably have seen two of my inspirations who are fellow lensmasters. I've written about Martin Stankewitz, aka editionh, as The Art of Zazzle. You might have seen The Wizard of Zazzle, ah Tickety-Boo that would be the Wizard Scott Morton.  Oh, there are other very special Squidoo lensmasters who are an inspiration to me, yes there are!

When I think of an inspiration outside of Squidoo and Zazzle, the very first person who comes to mind is someone that I know YOU would NOT expect.  An inspiration of mine, with whom I would love to have a six-month mentorship, or longer, is Michio Kaku.  Heard of him?  The Wikipedia reference for Michio Kaku gives you more detailed information than I could ever hope to give you here in my blog post; so I say, read that!

Michio Kaku, born January 24, 1947, is an American theoretical physicist specializing in string field theory, and a futurist. He is a popularizer of science, host of two radio programs and a best-selling author.

Michio Kaku, surprisingly reminds me personally a lot of my father who has been deceased for many years along with a hint of Guy Kawasaki!  Yes, good old Guy.  So, if I got that six-month mentorship, it would be quite a fulfilling experience, channeling my father, Guy and a whole lot of inspiration.  I think I need to make a point to attend one of Michio Kaku's talks.  If I had a bucket list, I'd add that!

P.S. I mentioned Guy Kawasaki. You know, I have written a bit about him. Maybe you have seen Best of Guy Kawasaki on Twitter, or The Art of the Start, or how about Reality Check by Guy Kawasaki?  You know, I would sincerely enjoy spending a mentorship with Guy, if he would have time what with all his twittering.  You know?

The Great Old Wizard Tickety Boo - A Book by Scott Morton

Why this blog post today? Well, interestingly enough, the other day I was working on my Squidoo lenses but was having difficulty with getting my pages to load. So, it gave me the opportunity to drop into the friendly SquidU Forum to chat with fellow lensmasters. When I asked if Squidoo was Down, another lensmaster mentioned reading that the servers were working 'tickety boo.'

Tickety boo? I've been wondering for a LONG time what tickety boo means and where that expression originated. So, this morning I decided to investigate this on Google. Wow! What an interesting answer to this perplexing question posted by Jay Young in the Urban Dictionary:

1. Going smoothly, doing all right. Copacetic.
2. Proceeding quickly.

This expression may have originated in Scotland, where it's the title of a popular children's song. A song called "Everything Is Tickety-Boo" was recorded by Danny Kaye as part of the film "Merry Andrew". This expression is heard more often in Canada nowadays. May have originated in the British military. Possibly related to the Hindi expression "tickee babu", meaning "everything's alright, sir". Some people spell it "diggity boo" or "tiggity boo".

Searching further on Google, I found an incredibly cool sounding book, The Great Old Wizard Tickety Boo by Scott Morton. After looking for this book on Amazon, I found that you can order the book direct from the author for just £11.99 (P&P in the UK FREE).

Amazon says that this book is Out of Print--Limited Availability.

P.S. March 15, 2009, I have received an email from the author of this book. How very cool is that? Scott Morton is looking for a North American agent -- perhaps we can put find Scott an agent? I hope so!

Thank you for showing interest in my Book, I am a self published Author / Illustrator from Sheffield, England and am looking for an Agent to represent me in the American market place, Do you have any contacts in the Childrens book market that would be able to help me ? Cheers Scott" --Scott Morton morton.s@talktalk.net